Wilbur Mills is an alcoholic. Billy Carter is an alcoholic. Grace Slick is an alcoholic. Jason Robards is an alcoholic. So are writer Tom Tryon, comedian Sid Caesar, musicians Doc Severinsen and Pete Townshend, and baseball's Bob Welch and Don Newcombe. So are actress Gale Storm, writer-comedian Graham Chapman, and novelist Elmore Leonard. And so is Dennis Wholey, the host of the PBS television series LateNight America, who has collected the powerful and frightening stories of these and many other well-known alcoholics. Their moving stories, told in their own words, portray the eventual nightmare of drinking, the quitting, and now the happiness. There are more than 20 million alcoholics in America and more than one third of the population is directly affected by alcoholic behavior. Alcoholism is truly a family disease. In The Courage to Change, Rod Steiger talks about his alcoholic mother; the Reverend Jerry Falwell tells about growing up with an alcoholic father; Lois Robards, Sybil Carter, and Florence Caesar relate their own stories as wives of alcoholics. How do you know if you are an alcoholic? What are the symptoms? What should you do if someone in your family is an alcoholic? Where is the help? Is there hope? These and many other questions about the disease of alcoholism are answered by some of America's alcoholism experts, complementing the personal stories. This book offers practical advice as well as inspiration. It may be a book that will give an alcoholic, or the family of one, hope and the motivation to seek help.
